


Autistic Character

by AutisticWriter



Series: Autism Acceptance Month [16]
Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Ableism, Autism, Autism Spectrum, Autistic Creative Challenge, Autistic Morty Smith, Autistic Rick is Canon!, Bickering, Canon Autistic Character, Drunkenness, Family, Ficlet, Gen, Implied/Referenced Bullying, Rick Hates the Movie Rain Man, Swearing, Tumblr Prompt, autistic acceptance month
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-15
Updated: 2018-04-15
Packaged: 2019-04-23 09:35:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 546
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14329590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AutisticWriter/pseuds/AutisticWriter
Summary: In which Rick isn’t impressed to see an autism stereotype on the TV.[Prompt 13: Autistic character]





	Autistic Character

“What the fuck is this?” Rick says, wandering into the living room as a movie plays on the TV.

Jerry raises his eyebrows. “It’s a movie, Rick.”

“D-Don’t be sarcastic, Jerry. It makes you s-seem more intelligent than you actually are.”

As Jerry mutters under his breath, Rick flops onto the couch beside Summer. As always, his granddaughter is more interested in her cell phone, but Jerry is actually watching the movie.

Rick looks at the TV, recognising a couple of actors, but not the movie. “So what is it?”

“It’s called _Rain Man_ ,” Jerry says. “You know, you’d probably like this, Rick. One of the main characters is autistic.”

He perks up at the word ‘autistic’. And then he groans. Now he remembers this movie. It got rave reviews but Rick was just pissed off. Because it was the first time he ever found an autistic character in the media, and this character is little more than an autism stereotype.

“Fucking brilliant,” Rick says.

He stands up, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

“Hey, don’t you want to watch the movie?” Jerry says.

“Nah, I might do something more interesting,” he says, burping. “Like having a shit.”

And he walks off before Jerry can ask what the problem is.

\---

At the dinner table that night, Jerry decides to bring up their conversation this morning.

“I thought you’d like _Rain Man_ , Rick,” he says.

“Yeah, w-well you thought wrong,” Rick mutters, swigging from his hipflask. “I’m not in the mood to watch a shitty stereotype that still makes p-people think about autism wrong. It’s f-fucking irritating.”

“Yeah, we watched that at school,” Morty says without looking up from his plate. “I was the only one who found it annoying. Most of the other kids just laughed. And it’s not even a funny movie. But it did mean everyone called be Rain Man for the next month.” He grimaces. “It’s right fun having the piss taken out of you.”

Rick looks at him, feeling a stab of sympathy for once. Mainly because he knows what it is like to be bullied at school, mocked because of the way your autism makes you act. It’s fucked up.

“I get what you mean, Morty,” Rick says. He looks back at Jerry. “In c-conclusion, it pissed me off and both me and y-your son find it offensive. So you better not put it on the TV again.”

Jerry looks confused and slightly offended, but he nods his head. “Okay. I’ll try to remember that.” He turns to Morty, frowning slightly. “Did you really get bullied for being autistic, Morty?”

Morty nods, still not looking up. “Yeah. I get bullied quite a lot. It’s just normal. Bullies love to pick on the disabled kids.”

“Can totally v-vouch for that,” Rick says, burping as he nods vigorously. “They luuurve treating you like sh-shit if you’re disabled. Fucked up, but kinda normal in schools.” Realising that the tone of this conversation has gone really depressing, he burps and adds, “Anyway, n-next time you wanna watch a movie with an autistic protagonist, let me know. Then I can avoid it if it’s ableist bullshit. Which, knowing how shit the media is, it probably will be.”

And Jerry nods, not quite as confused as before.


End file.
